Sometimes A Story Has No End
by SKDanielle16
Summary: Rose Hathaway sat alone in her hotel room like she'd done many nights over the last few years of her life. She never stayed in one place for too long because her occupation prevented her from it, from settling down in one location for more than a few weeks at a time. If she was being honest, she never desired that life anyway. But then, everything changed. One-Shot. RxD.


**Disclaimer: **Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy

**A/N: **I wrote this with Lady Gaga's _Gypsy (Demo Version) _playing in the background as inspiration so you can thank her for this quick one-shot. I encourage all of you to take a listen even if it's not quite your taste just to get a sense for how this came about. Make sure it's the demo version (you can find it on youtube) because it's quite different from the final version. I hope my fellow Americans are enjoying the holiday today! As you're settling down for the day, I hope this can bring you some joy.

**Sometimes a Story has No End...**

Rose Hathaway sat alone in her hotel room like she'd done many nights over the last few years of her life.

She was nomadic. She never stayed in one place for too long because her occupation prevented her from it, from settling down in one location for more than a few weeks at a time.

If she was being honest, she never desired that life anyway.

She enjoyed working for her father. She enjoyed being free from the ties that society often pushed on people like her - a dhampir, a guardian, a woman.

But then, everything changed.

She'd never expected to fall in love.

Love was as good as a myth as far as she was concerned. Her parents split up and they were the only example she ever had to compare to.

But then she met Dimitri Belikov.

He hit her like a freight train.

_She was in San Diego, walking along the beach alone when she came across a party. Immediately, she recognized it as a Moroi affair. _

_It was obvious when she caught sight of the dhampirs that stood casually along the outer edge of the little cabana the Moroi had rented to shield their skin from the setting sun. Guardians._

_Feeling comfortable around her own kind, she stood along the outer edge, but didn't try to mingle with anyone. She kept her distance and minded her own, like she had been taught to do, like she had always done her whole life._

_He approached her, pulling her from her wandering thoughts as she ran through a mental checklist of what she needed to do the next day. It was another mission, take out a particularly powerful Strigoi that was terrorizing one of Abe's business ventures along the west coast. _

"_Enjoying the party?" he asked, smiling kindly as he approached her slowly._

_She turned to him, surprised that someone had come over to her. She usually gave off a vibe that said she wanted to be left alone, or at least that's what others had told her._

_He held out a small flute of what she guessed was champagne to her. After a moment's hesitation, she took it from him, their fingers brushing against each other. She looked at him curiously from underneath her lashes, wondering what in the world he was doing talking to her._

"_I wasn't exactly invited," she admitted, turning back to the coast where the sun was disappearing into the horizon. It was a beautiful sight._

"_Me neither," he shared, the soft smile never fully leaving his lips. He was very handsome, she realized._

"_Your charge?"_

_He nodded and then rested a warm hand on her shoulder as he pointed out which Moroi was his. He was a tall blonde-haired man._

"_Ivan Zeklos," he named, shaking his head knowingly as his charge laughed loudly while he mingled with a group of attractive girls._

"_He looks like the life of the party."_

_He laughed, causing small wrinkles to form around his eyes. She found his laugh endearing, among other things. "That's Ivan for you."_

"_Why aren't you over there with him?"_

_He tore his eyes away from his charge and then they rested on her. "This isn't really my scene."_

"_Mine either," she shared, a little surprised that she was being so forthcoming with a total stranger. She hadn't even learned his name. But, there was something about the kindness in his eyes that made her comfortable in his company._

"_And you looked lonely," he continued, his hand still finding solace on her shoulder. He hadn't moved it yet, and she hadn't tried to shrug it off._

_She frowned, her eyes meeting his. "I did?"_

_She was great at hiding her true emotions. It was something she'd perfected over a lifetime of doing things for her father. It was a necessary requirement for her job. And yet, this man had seen something in her other than a blank stare._

_What he said surprised her._

_Was she lonely? Yes, she was alone, but they were two different things._

_Silence fell over them as they held eye contact. As the moments passed, something started building in the pit of Rose's stomach. She couldn't name the feeling, having never experienced it before._

_His hand fell from her shoulder, causing her to break out of the trance she was in. Had he spoken without her noticing?_

_He took the empty glass from her and left the pair of them on a nearby table. She watched as he approached Ivan. The two spoke quietly for a second before they both looked over at her. She averted her gaze quickly and then turned back to the water. _

_Perhaps he was bored of her._

_Shaking it off, she walked closer to the water and away from the party. She slipped out of her shoes and dipped her toes in, yelping when she found the water was a lot colder than she expected. _

_After laughing to herself, she started walking farther along the coast, her thoughts returning to work._

"_I didn't scare you off, did I?"_

_She jumped as her dhampir friend returned to her side. She watched dumbfounded as he removed his shoes and entered the tide's frothy water with her._

_He looked at her expectantly as she realized he'd asked her a question._

"_N-no," she forced out. Her hair was billowing around her, forcing her to shove the wild pieces behind her ear. She looked at him sheepishly. "I thought you were going back to the party."_

_He shook his head, moving closer to her. Their shoulders touched and the feeling in her stomach returned._

"_Are you allowed to be this far away from your charge?"_

_She stole a look over their shoulders. The party was just visible in the distance. She had walked quite a ways._

"_I'm off duty," he explained. "Ivan is always encouraging me to let loose at these things so he thought giving me the night off would help."_

_Rose nodded silently, unable to focus on much other than the warmth that radiated off of him. Her shoulder, bare save for a thin strap that held her summery dress in place, brushed against his once more and she shivered._

"_Are you cold?" he asked, a concerned look on his face._

_Why did he seem to care so much? Was that just how he was?_

_No one had ever treated his this way, especially not a man. And she'd encountered _many_ of those while she traveled around the world. Some had been friendly, but none were as earnest as the one in front of her._

_He removed the long jacket that covered his shoulders and draped it over her. She sunk into the fabric, enjoying the smell that enveloped her as soon as he placed it on her. _

"_Thank you."_

"_You're welcome."_

_As they walked, the sun disappeared completely._

_In the darkness of the night, his hand found hers. Soundlessly, his fingers threaded through hers, causing her to look up at him, but he wasn't looking at her. His eyes stayed forward, not acknowledging the daring thing he'd just done._

_She quietly accepted his gesture, shifting her fingers subtly in his. She decided she liked the way his large hands swallowed her petite ones._

_They shared a comfortable silence, neither of them willing to burst the beautiful bubble they found themselves in._

_Until he couldn't take it anymore._

_He stopped abruptly, causing her to stumble over her feet as his hand pulled her back._

"_Wha-" she started, but then his free hand caressed her cheek and his lips were on hers._

_Heat radiated through her whole body as a blush blossomed over her tanned cheeks. _

_He let go of her hand and buried it into her hair. She sighed at the touch, causing him to pull her even closer in the darkness._

_She opened her eyes, wondering if this was all a dream and she was about to wake up. Rose pulled away from him to take a breath. _

_In the glow of the moonlight, her eyes took in all of him. He towered over her, standing at a much taller height than she. His eyes were a deep brown that matched the color of his long hair perfectly. His body was toned and firm, which was to be expected. He was a guardian after all._

_His hands fell to her hips, pulling her back to him. She fell into his embrace willingly and the feeling in her stomach grew, this time moving up to her chest and down to her legs. It swallowed all of her._

_Perhaps she _had_ been lonely._

_When they finally parted again, he rested his forehead on hers. He smiled and she mirrored it with her own, unable to help herself._

"_I'm Rose Hathaway," she whispered. She didn't share her identity often, but she wanted him to know who she was._

"_Dimitri Belikov," he replied before leaning down again._

_And that was it._

After their beautiful and passionate night in the sand, she disappeared into the night, leaving him to wake up alone a couple hours later.

As she padded away from him, she wondered why she was running.

When she was safely behind the door of her hotel room, she knew. It was what she was best at.

They would've never lasted. Not with the responsibility of his charge, or the lifestyle her job required. Still, she let her imagination run wild.

Maybe she could've settled down with him…

She would finally give up the life she was settling for. Instead, planting roots and finding a place to call home with a man who understood her.

...Or maybe they could've just stayed friends.

_No_. Friends wouldn't have been enough for her. He would've told her the same, had he gotten the chance.

But she would never know.

**Five Months Later**

Rose pulled the strap of her duffel bag tighter over her shoulder as she walked through Court.

The bag held all of her belongings. She found it sad that she could fit everything into such a small bag, but that was her life.

She never had a problem with it before, but over the last couple months, her view had changed. Her outlook on life shifted. For the better? She wasn't sure.

When her father had asked why she was choosing to go to Court, she didn't have much of an answer for him other than it was what she needed to do.

She thumbed the slip of paper that contained nothing more than an address once more then slipped it back into her pocket. She had it memorized at this point. She'd read it over and over while she contemplated her next move.

She could continue on, plowing through life like it had nothing to offer her other than slaying Strigoi and carrying out her father's dirty work, or she could take a chance and show up at his doorstep.

That brought along its own complications.

What if he didn't want to see her? What if he had found someone else? Or, worst of all, what if that night hadn't meant as much to him as it had her?

Whichever outcome was destined for her, she had to take the risk.

Her heart ached for him. Her whole body did.

She'd just spent one night with Dimitri, but it was enough to change her whole life. She'd been kissed before, but never like _that_. She'd had sex before, but hadn't _made love_.

A shiver ran through her body, momentarily distracting her from the nerves that plagued her the minute her father's jet landed.

She stood frozen in front of his door, her hand lifted to knock.

A million reasons why she shouldn't do this, why she should turn around and return to the plane, ran through her mind, but then she saw the memory of his eyes staring back into hers as he caressed every inch of her skin.

She knocked.

She heard some shuffling before the door swung open.

"Roza," he choked out breathlessly as he caught sight of her. And just like that, every reason faded away and it was just the two of them.

The bag fell from her shoulders and onto the ground with a thud.

* * *

**A/N:** I _loved_ writing this. With the song as inspiration, it just flowed out of me. I hope you enjoyed it as much I did :)


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